🎓 Lifestyle Tradeoffs
Private school for two kids = $1M+ over 13 years.
$30k/year × 13 years × 2 kids = $780k just in tuition. Invest that same money instead and you're handing each kid a paid-for adulthood. Move the sliders. Watch your FI Age change.
What does private school actually cost vs investing the difference?
Common scenarios
Annual tuition above $0 (public-school baseline)
Your age today
This is costing you
56.7 yrs
of financial freedom
$900.0K
30 yrs
$2.8M
by age 65
That private education choice costs you 56.7 yrs of freedom — or $2.8M of future net worth. 🎓
See how many YEARS this is costing YOUShare this on social
My private school tuition cost me
56.7 yrs
of freedom
Lifetime Spend
$900.0K
If Invested
$2.8M
$30,000/yr · from age 35 to 65 · invested at 7%
Most people get this wrong. Check yours →
PeakWorth — educational projections only. Not financial, tax, or legal advice. See peakworth.com/disclosures.
The most defended financial decision in upper-middle class households
Private school is one of the few line items where we can't tell you if it's worth it — that's deeply personal and depends on your kid, your school options, your values.
What we CAN tell you is the financial-only number. That doesn't capture relationships, environment, or fit. But pretending the dollar figure isn't real is how families end up house-poor and retirement-poor at the same time.
Hybrid options exist: public for elementary, private for high school, or vice versa, can cut the lifetime cost by 60% while preserving the strategic years.
Frequently asked questions
Doesn't private school mean better outcomes?
Mixed evidence. Controlled studies (controlling for family income and parental involvement) show much smaller effect sizes than the price tag suggests. The strongest predictor of kid outcomes is parental engagement, not school type.
What about scholarships and aid?
Most private schools offer 20–40% aid for middle-income families. Always apply — sticker price is rarely what families actually pay. Run the calculator with your aid-adjusted number.
Is it more 'worth it' for high school vs elementary?
Most cost-benefit analyses agree: high school is where the academic + network ROI is highest. Elementary is where public schools tend to perform comparably. Many families optimize by switching.
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